Old Man's War

Baker & TaylorEnlisting in the army on his seventy-fifth birthday, John Perry joins an interstellar war between Earth and alien enemies who would stake claims on the few existing inhabitable planets, unaware that the conflict involves much more than he understands.

McMillan Palgrave

A stunning novel of war and survival

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-and aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place.

So: we fight. To defend Earth (a target for our new enemies, should we let them get close enough) and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has gone on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force, which shields the home planet from too much knowledge of the situation. What's known to everybody is that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve your time at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine-and what he will become is far stranger.

Independent Publishing Group

A stunning novel of war and survival

Holtzbrinck

A stunning novel of war and survival

Blackwell North AmerJohn Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce - and aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place. So: we fight. To defend Earth (a target for our new enemies, should we let them get close enough) and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has gone on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force, which shields the home planet from too much knowledge of the situation. What's known to everybody is that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve your time at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine - and what he will become is far stranger.

Baker & TaylorEnlisting in the army on his seventy-fifth birthday, John Perry joins an interstellar war between Earth and alien enemies who would stake claims on the few existing inhabitable planets, unaware that the conflict involves much more than he understands. By the author of The Rough Guide to the Universe. 15,000 first printing.

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Really solid sci-fi page-turner. If you are a fan of Starship Troopers or Joe Haldeman's The Forever War there's lots to like here. (And ignore the other reviewer's comment about graphic sexual content. There's hardly any sex in the book and nothing particularly graphic.)

Never having heard of the author, I decided to read his book based on this characterization (below): "However, there was way to much gratuitous sexual content. And it was not mild. It was more prolonged and graphic than what you would find in Game Of Thrones." I thought, really? - more and harsher (degrading) sex than the Game of Thrones series? Is that possible? Well. It is sci-fi. Maybe there is tentacle-sex?

You be the judge. Here is the scene: "I stared. I opened my mouth to say something. She grabbed my head and kissed me so hard that I was knocked back into my quarters, She managed to kick the door shut on our way to the floor. I was impressed. I had forgotten how easy it was for a young man to get an erection."

Where would you score this on a sex-scale between Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers and R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series? Not the much milder presentation on television. The actual content of the books.

Just as good as Starship Troopers in that rejuvenated human army recruited senior citizens fight several different alien species & stealing each other's technology the hard way.
Cute joke on Ghost Brigades from deceased applicants' DNA.
Good to have a mature everyman.

I love, love, love this series! It's a super easy read, almost like an airport novel, but with none of the trash. Fascinating world building and engaging, believable characters. Do yourself a favor and read this book!

The first Scalzi book I read and along with The Ghost Brigades and still one of my favorites. When I try to get people to read sci-fi who look down their nose at it this is my go to book to show that it can be fun.

So my eBook loan for this book expired when I was about halfway through it and I was enjoying it so much I bought it so I could finish it. I've heard a lot about this series over the past little while and given how much I have enjoyed Lock In and Redshirts I gave this one a go. Same tone and humour as from the other works but there's also a nice debt to be paid to Robert Heinlein here as well and I loved it. It's a fabulous concept (taking 75 year olds and their experience out into space to fight for the colonies and live out there once their life on Earth as they know it is winding down) and I really enjoyed reading about John Perry's experiences in training and in what action we see him get. He is almost painfully the everyman to the point of absurdity in how well he does in some cases but in a world where the mortality rate is really, really high you can almost deal with the dumb luck that goes his way.

The world and organization is engaging as anything - Starship Trooper without the lectures as one of the reviews in the front says. And it really is a fun and exciting read. I'm on board for more and that's a fact.

Brilliant. I must give this book that. Just brilliant. However, there was way to much gratuitous sexual content. And it was not mild. It was more prolonged and graphic than what you would find in Game Of Thrones. Good book. But the gratuitous content made the book nowhere near as good as it could of been. Didn't finish the book...